Painting Roofs White Global Warming

Secretary of energy and a nobel prize winning scientist has said that painting roofs white or another light color would help to reduce global warming by reflecting sunlight back into space it would be like removing every vehicle from the planet for 11 years.

Painting roofs white global warming.

Installing white roofs or painting them white has been promoted as a way to help slow global warming. Paint the world s roofs white to reflect more sunlight and it could help cool down both cities and the planet. Steven chu the us secretary of energy and a nobel prize winning scientist said yesterday that making roofs and pavements white or light coloured would help to reduce global warming by both. By reflecting more light and heat back to the atmosphere a white roof should act like.

The urban heat island can be a killer. Simple paint the roofs white so that they reflect more sunlight and presto chango. Oleson found that even if every city building roof and stretch of urban pavement in the world were painted white it would only delay global warming by 11 years. Painting roofs white or covering them with plants could help fight global warming but they don t offer the same bang for the buck everywhere says a study monday of six u s.

New research shows that white roofs may actually add to global warming. The idea of painting our roofs and roads white to offset global warming is not new but a recent study has calculated just how significantly white surfaces could impact greenhouse gas emissions. Steven chu the u s. In the case of global warming white roofs looked to be the low hanging no brainer.

But its potential value in ameliorating the most severe consequences of excess heat in cities could be life saving. Seemed like a cool idea. The thing that no one discusses is how to paint your roof. A new study however finds it s a lot more complicated.